the MINIFIC where there's just so many rainbow related jokes
by themagnificentwarlock
Summary: I'm in art class and I just opened a cupboard to find a tiny person (you) squished inside and you just looked at me and said "shh i'm hiding"


A soft hiss echoed through the cupboard as Will Solace grabbed the yellow paint pot. " _Shh…_ "

Will jumped like he'd just been bitten by a snake (it wouldn't be the first time).

"WHAT _IN_ APOL—", he yelled, then he abruptly stopped, staring at the dark figure crouched in the corner not even a foot away. " _Nico?_ "

How had he not noticed him? The son of Hades took up at least half in such a tiny space. And it wasn't like he was easily camoflauged— even the walls were covered in paint splatters, all colors of the rainbow.

Nico regarded Will apprehensively. " _Shh_ , I'm hiding."

"Hiding?"

"Piper and Percy are after me again."

 _Oh_. Will suddenly knew what this was about. About a week ago— just as he left the infirmary after his shift— he'd seen Nico streaking across the grass towards the woods. He hadn't even lifted a hand in greeting as Will wondered what that was all about. Nico _always_ said hi.

And then Piper appeared, Percy in tow, both holding a pot of paint. Piper, _pink_ , Percy, _blue_. They all disappeared between the trees and only reappeared at dinner that night, Nico wearing a suspiciously new shirt.

"Again?"

" _Again_ ," Nico confirmed.

"Can't Jason… I dunno… do something…" As far as he knew, Jason was Nico's _Protective Big Brother tm._

"He's in New Rome at the moment."

"Well, Annabeth?"

"Oh, she finds it hilarious." He muttered something under his breath that sound like _but I don't_.

Will snickered under his glare. "Aw, poor Death Boy. Everyone chasing you with colors now, are they?"

"Shut up, Sunshine," Nico glowered. Will's heart did a weird little _thump_ at his nickname. _Dammit_.

"Taste the Rainbow?"

The son of Hades didn't get the joke— if possible, his expression soured even more. "I _hate_ Iris. She never lets my IMs go through."

Whether it was a good idea to say you hated the goddess in charge of IMs, Will didn't know. But Nico made him laugh with his misinterpretation. "It's an expression." Sometimes he forgot the son of Hades wasn't actually from this decade.

"Oh," Nico said sheepishly, still huddled under in the corner.

The son of Apollo smiled at him, deciding this wasn't the best time to make anymore rainbow puns, no matter how tempting. "Well, good luck, and, you know, if you need any help… just shout."

Everything went wrong the moment he backed out of the cupboard.

Or _tried_ to. His foot hit something and he went tumbling forward, face headed towards a plank. He remember thinking he was glad Nico wasn't the plank, because Nico hated physical contact and would surely kill him. That thought was _irrelevant_. He was about to knock himself out on a _plank_.

 _Somehow_ , he managed to twist himself into a furled ball as ribs collided with the floor and all the air flew out of his lungs. He thought he heard Nico suck in a gasp, but right then he had a new problem.

In life or death situations, demigod time slows town— and now he was watching the yellow paint pot he'd been holding slowly fly up as if levitating, tipping over and over and over and paint falling back to the earth and the metal tin hitting the topmost plank and— _oh_ _zeus_ — hitting other paint pots.

The next thing he knew, everything was dark and there was a heavy weight on top of him. Eyes blinking open as he tried to asses the damage, his first thought was that his hand, lying away from him, was _drenched_ in paint. It was like Iris had showered him with her infamous multi-color bio-health fruit punch.

But the rest of him felt… _strangely_ fine. As he tried to sit up but couldn't, he realised why.

Poor Nico must have taken the blow for him.

"I hate you," the son of Hades glared at him from under an upside-down paint-pot over his head, dripping from head to toe with all the colors from the rainbow. Any trace of midnight-black hair or clothes was nowhere to be seen.

Will didn't have an excuse for what happened next.

He _lost_ it.

The fates just had it in for Nico that that was also the moment Piper and Percy— having heard the ruckus of clanging metal— finally found him.

Nico _never_ lived down that day— as Percy constantly reminded him, it's not everyday he stalks _out of the closet_ , (well, cupboard), covered in _rainbows_ and dragging _Will Solace_ after him.


End file.
